


Skeletons in the Closet

by MadamParanoia



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Avengers Family, Child Abuse, Clint Is a Good Bro, Clones, Emotional Manipulation, Female Steve Rogers, Fluff and Smut, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Human Experimentation, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Issues, Implied Selfcest, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kid Fic, Kid Tony Stark, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protectiveness, Psychological Trauma, Slow Build, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Torture, but only for the first few chapters, cloning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-15 14:50:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8060716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadamParanoia/pseuds/MadamParanoia
Summary: “Hey Steph?” he whispers softly, turning towards her and brushing his fingers through her golden-colored bangs with deft fingers.“Hmmmm?” she responds without opening her eyes. She had almost been asleep; letting her fingers drift through the grass and breeze caress her skin had been enough to calm her tense and over-strained muscles. Not to mention the fact that her boy was beside her, and he always calmed the raging emotions deep within her, even when talking in his fast-paced technobabble he had adopted over the years.“What do you think happens when we die?”





	1. Why do Angel's Cry?

As soon as she was created she knew what was in store for her, not only had she been manufactured from Captain America’s DNA, but she had what was found to be his handwriting on the inner of her right thigh. It wasn’t as dark as normal people’s however, and it along with her other two honestly looked more like elegant bruises or scars then soul marks. That part was unsurprising, considering she wasn’t human.

Unfortunately that was the issue, she wasn’t human, so why did she have these marks on her skin? She was incomplete, a failure they had called her. She was too little: her bones and skin fragile like paper. Her eyes where not the perfect blue of Steven Grant Rogers (as she was told), if anything they leaned more heavily towards hazel, flawless blue around the pupil but fading to the color of ugly swamp water towards the cornea. When using any sort of muscle it and its ligaments would tear right off her bones, causing her world to be engulfed in endless agony as they healed only to be utterly destroyed once again. She saw everything in shades of black, white, and gray; but could seldom keep her eyes open to see anyways.

Finally, and the most damning aspect to the scientists who created her, she was female.

And Steven Grant Rogers was not.

She was a mess; she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t walk, she couldn’t even eat or drink without puking it up. She was done for, and they all knew it. They had left her on her back; perhaps in hopes she would choke on her own vomit, or maybe that her heart would simply give out and they wouldn’t have to put her down like the animal she was. _“It doesn’t matter as long as that thing is dead”_ one of them had hissed.

She was going to die here, all alone in a containment unit made off glass and metal.

Or she was, until _he_ showed up.

\----------------------------

 “Wow! Are you an Angel?!” a high pitched voice asks (or more accurately yells). She slowly opened her eyes, already feeling exhausted by just that, and forces herself through the pain to look at the intruder. To look at the one who said her words, the ones wrapped around her left wrist like a bracelet, and whose are her favorite: Her favorite because they are the darkest, and because they cause something warm to bloom in her chest. However what she sees gives her slight pause, before a minuscule grin touches her face.

Her intruder is a child, who couldn’t be any more than eight years old, and he looks positively _filthy_. She has no idea what he is covered in, but it clings to his face and hands like a second skin. She tries to search her brain for any possible way she can communicate with him without using her damaged vocal cords, and finally gently lifts up her thumb, index, and middle fingers while folding her pinkie and ring down towards her palm. She then touches her index and middle fingers to her thumb; she believes that in some language this means ‘No’ and hopes it's a language the child understands.

“Oh, you know sign language?" He asks, a grin touching his face. She tries her best to grin once again in response, and his face turns a shade darker before he shyly looks down and scuffs his feet against the lab's floor. He raises his face slightly after a short moment of...shuffling (her mind supplies the word embarrassment) and coughs before he opens his mouth to speak: "I have a book on it in my room, it’s only for beginners though-“

“Tony! What are you doing in here!?” One of the men who usually watched while the scientists dealt with her comes into to the room, his face a darker shade of gray than normal. He grabs Tony harshly away from her, and all she hears is jumbled together yelling from the two until his hand slaps “Tony” across the face, knocking him to the floor with a whimper.

**The first color she ever sees is red.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Howard's a bastard, and Stephanie's not taking any of it. Not when it comes to her Tony...  
> Beware all who harm the Tony...  
> Please review! This is the first fic I've ever posted, so I hope you guys enjoy! I will post more chapters as soon as I am able.  
> By the way, this is mainly an introduction, I plan on my other chapters being at least twice as long.


	2. Edwin Jarvis

When she wakes up, it is to complete and utter destruction.

All of the lab’s tables and chairs are turned over and scattered across the room, along with quite a few documents and notes. There is faint smoke coming from several small holes surrounding her, and she looks to see a lone scientist quivering in his boots and holding some kind of machine (her mind once again supplies her with the word _gun_ ). The containment unit is completely busted; a hole roughly the size of her body in the glass, and the metal bent irreparably. She hears soft whimpers and feels tiny hands grab onto her smock, yanking it down slightly and exposing a shoulder.

She whimpers as well, because _everything fucking hurts_ , but she carefully looks down and sees a mop of brown hair that at least makes the pain in her chest abate. She clutches on to him right back, gritting her teeth against the pure agony the action causes, and cries right along with him.

“Get away from him!” someone barks, and she growls slightly when the child in her arm flinches. She raises her eyes to see no other than the man who hit Tony, _the man who hit her boy,_ and her eyes glare into him with all of the hatred and malice her exhausted body can manage. She feels her mouth twitch when she sees the blood that runs from his nose and has stained his probably priceless suit.

She thought that had been a pretty decent left hook, all things considered.

“D-dad please stop, p-please don’t hurt her anymore.” She hears her boy whimper, and wonders what he means, _she’s not the one who’s hurt_ , before it all comes rushing back to her: The break-out, the punch, taking Tony away, her running _so very fast_ _(‘Have to get out have to get him safe-‘),_ yelling, the feeling of sharp metal piercing her side, and at that thought she finally looks down and almost pukes at the sight of blood covering both her and Tony.

Her blood only though, thank god. What kind of idiots would shoot at someone holding a child?

( _These kind of idiots_ her mind supplies)

“Tony.” She hears the man growl, “Get over here. _Right. Now.”_

“NO!” the boy screeches, clinging tighter to her and hiding his face in the crook of her neck.

“ANTHONY EDWARD STARK-“

“Mr. Stark!” one of the scientists, a female this time, calls.

“What!?” The man snaps out, turning his head toward the woman with the only functional computer left in the lab.

“You need to have a look at this!” she exclaims, her face as pale as a sheet and fingers slightly trembling.

The man makes his way over to the computer, harshly shoving the scientist out of the way. What the man sees makes his jaw drop in shock before he rushes back to the subject. Ignoring her growls, he crouches down in front of her and roughly pulls the smock up to her chest, disregarding her and his son’s whimpers. He leans in close to the bullet wound in her right side, and gives out a sharp laugh.

Sure enough the bleeding has stopped, and the skin is slowly knitting itself back together. There was still no contest to before however, no matter how slow it was; the subject was healing at a far faster rate than the last injury she had sustained. It had taken weeks for her muscles and ligaments to knit back together after they had forced her to walk that first time.

“Marshall, get my son out of here, we have work to do.”

The man looks back at her from the scientist he had been talking to, and she cringes from the pungent smell of his breath as he speaks ( _Alcohol_ , her inner voice states).

“Perhaps you’re of use to me yet.”

\---------------------------------------------

She is dubbed Subject SGR87-623.

She is the only other clone to survive except for two others, who were perfect in every way except for one:

Their brain activities are far too low to survive without any form of medical assistance.

She is deemed a probable lost cause, a one-trick pony, but she is all they have to work with.

“Status Report Marshall, I want to know everything, even something as small as when the subject last fucking blinked!” Howard Stark proclaims as he enter the lab two weeks later, smoking a cigar and sloshing around the amber liquid in his crystal decanter.

“She has advanced from Achromatopsia to Deuteranomaly sir-“

Howard huffs, “That’s impossible! You can’t just heal from only being able to see in black and white overnight-”

“There is more Sir.” Marshall interrupts him right back, flinching slightly at the glare he receives. Howard makes a sharp go-on gesture, before scratching at the bandage on his nose. The scientist nods before speaking:

“Her muscles and ligaments are no longer tearing from her bones with a single movement. She can even stand on her own, but has exhibited pain after walking for short segments of time. She can now stomach a liquid diet, and is now breathing at a normal respiratory level. We have determined her body has advanced to the size and development of a, albeit extremely malnourished, thirteen-year-old girl-” The scientist takes a deep breath: “-andshehealsoseemstobecomunicatingviasignlanguage.”

“…Sign Language?” Howard asks incredulously.

“...She’s only communicated with one person sir.”

Howard narrows his eyes at the scientist, and Marshall gulps audibly before speaking:

“She’s only talked with your son.”

\---------------------------------------------

It had been days of endless poking, prodding, and harsh experiments to see how strong her healing factor was becoming (The former usually requiring the scientists to use a wide array of sharp and blunt objects). Subject SGR87-623 had spent most of this time in a daze, feeling as though her heart was ripping from her very chest.

Subject SGR87-623 hadn’t heard from her boy sense the day Mr. Stark took him away from her. She had tried her very best told hold on to him as the scientists (and eventually Mr. Stark himself) had pulled him away from her and felt her heart squeeze painfully when he had tried his hardest to hold on right back.

It turns out that Tony had been watching her for a while. He had been sneaking into the overhang that was protected by bulletproof glass when his father and the scientists where not around. It had been just that day that he had been sneaky enough to watch as one of the scientists input the code to the doors of her room and had snuck inside.

When she was alone, she would swear she saw his mop of brown hair, but would look again and see nothing except for a sea of metal machines and glass windows.

At night, all she had to keep her company where the gray walls and machinery of the lab. Some nights she thought the endless beeping and monotone walls would one day drive her truly insane. She was always alone at night, and with that came the bone-crushing feelings of loneliness. She was expecting this night to be no different.

However, she guesses she should probably get used to the unexpected around Tony Stark

“Jarvis please, you have to help me! We have to get in there!” she hears a familiar voice yell, and gradually turns her head to look toward the noise. Through the double glass doors blocked to others by a coded lock she sees her boy, running towards the doors with a tall man in tow. Both of whom are clothed only their pajamas.

“Sir! We should not be down here-…oh my.” The man pauses, finally seeing her and the machinery surrounding her. His jaw drops down in shock, before something fierce crosses his expression and he looks down at Tony. “Anthony, remember the time I said it was not nice to break into password-secured areas?”

“Yes?”

“Disregard that statement Anthony; we need to get these doors open, and we will need your technological prowess to do it.”

\---------------------------------------------

From then on her nights are not so lonely anymore; they are filled with the company of her boy and Jarvis. Of whom spend most of their time learning how to speak sign language and teaching her the ways of the human world. Her health gets better more and more every day, and she no longer dreads lonely nights and their unforgiving darkness

She has been living happily with Jarvis and Tony’s company and teachings for over two months when the nightmares begin, and she wakes up screaming to hands holding her down. When she opens her eyes she sees watery brown ones looking back at her, and the terror leaves her as the first tear falls from her boy’s eyes. She reaches up and gently touches his cheek, giving him a reassuring smile.

“Are you alright, Madam?” Jarvis asks, brushing her bangs from her face and checking her flushed cheeks for temperature. “You gave Young Anthony and I quite a fright seeing you thrash about, what happened?” Jarvis asks, his brows furrowing in concern. Subject SGR87-623 looks away from her boy to meet Jarvis’ blue eyes, and remembers. The cold, the pain and fear, the anguish; all of it was an endless cycle. She was reaching out for someone, not knowing who, but knowing certain death was in store for them if she failed to grasp his outstretched hand.

She was trapped in an endless cycle of heartbreak and misery, for every time she failed, she had to watch as his body fell to the frozen gorge below.

She would scream his name until her voice went raw, but no words would pass through her lips. She could only curl in on herself in agony, and cry his name as her heart shattered over and over again.

 _“Bucky.”_ she cries curling in on herself as the tears started anew. She missed the way Jarvis and Tony’s eyes went wide at the sound of her raspy and unused voice, but they brushed their surprise away to wrap her up in their arms. Jarvis pulls away after a few short moments and reaches to grasp something out of Tony’s play bag. It’s one of her favorites: The Poetry of Robert Frost, and listening to Jarvis’ soft tones as he reads the weathered and well-loved book calms her aching nerves and applies a balm to her mental scars.

She falls to sleep with her boy in her arms, and Jarvis’ hand in hers.

\---------------------------------------------

She wakes up to yelling, shivering at the absence of a warm body and hand in hers. She sits bolt upright, ignoring the twinge of pain that brings. She doesn’t have to look far for her boy, because he is standing with his arms outstretched in front of her, a fierce look on his face. The yelling comes from farther in the room, and she registers slurred words before seeing something, or someone, that makes her blood run cold

Howard Stark has found them out, and her makeshift family is in trouble.

“How could you do this to me Jarvis?! Letting my son be around _that thing?!_ I trusted you! You endangered my son and have possibly ruined all of my findings-!”

“That is rubbish Howard! You know as well as I do how important that _very human_ girl is to Anthony, and that she couldn’t hurt a damn fly!”

“My son has two other soul marks, he will find someone else, and I will not have my son tied down to some experiment-!”

“What about what Anthony wants!? God, you’re so obsessed with a man who isn’t even alive you can’t see what is right in front of your eyes! And as for your findings!? What kind of findings can you possibly get from a girl slowly dying! If you see her healing factor as no more than a coincidence, than you are more foolish than I thought!”

“You watch your tone with me!” Howard stresses, stepping menacingly forward.

“Or what, Howard?” Jarvis asks with an unyielding expression, and with that simple question all the anger floods out of the room. Howard’s expression becomes unreadable, but his fingers twitch as if itching to reach out.

“Edwin-“

“This was a mistake Howard; you and I both know this, but I love that boy like my own son and I will not leave him, nor his mother, to the likes of _you_.” Howard growls at this, but doesn’t stop Jarvis as he walks back to Subject SGR87-623 and Tony.

“Come, children, we are going out.” He looks to Subject SGR87-623 and with a smile says: “There is someone you need to meet.”

Howard seems to have something to say to this, but immediately shuts up with a heated look from the blond man.

After some maneuvering through a seemingly endless amount of wires and IV’s, the trio leaves without a single glance back towards the lab and its single occupant. Subject SGR87-623 grabs both her boy’s and Jarvis’ hands, before pausing at the dark writing on the man’s wrist. She can’t but think the writing looks familiar, but brushes off the feeling and follows her family as they lead her through seemingly endless hallways and rooms.

“We are getting close.” Jarvis says, just as she begins to hear a beautiful sound unlike any she has heard before.

When they finally stop, they are in a huge room filled with shades of white and red. Subject SGR87-623’s sight falls onto a beautiful woman dark-haired woman dressed in black, sitting behind a huge wooden mechanism with white and black keys. Subject SGR87-623 seems to recall this being called a piano, and beams as the beautiful tune fills her with peace.

Tony and Jarvis grin as well, and when the melody ends Jarvis clears his throat softly before speaking:

“Maria, there is someone I would like you to meet.”

The woman turns around and upon seeing him opens her arms toward Tony, who immediately takes up her offer and lets himself be manhandled to sit beside her. Maria turns toward Subject SGR87-623 and smiles.

“Hello, and who might you be?” she asks softly, her voice as calming as her music. Subject SGR87-623 shuffles awkwardly, looking up at Jarvis for help. Jarvis smiles, before answering for her with a sharp glint in his eye:

 “Maria, this is Tony’s soulmate, and Howard’s newest creation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and let me know what you guys think! (I love reviews of any kind as long as they don't attempt to shatter my very soul! lol) Thank you as well for the feedback for my first chapter, you guys are so amazing and make my heart fill with joy! I have to admit though, I feel very guilty. I'm so extremely sorry this took so long, it has been a whirlwind these past few weeks. I'm not going to overload you with all my drama, but not only did I have to deal with college midterms (now that it's over can I cry?), but also moving into a new place because of some family issues. I finally got this chapter done though! Thank you all so much for your patience, and I hope you enjoy!  
> (PS. Yes, Paul Bettany will always be my Jarvis no matter what. In my eyes he is (drum-roll) The Alpha Jarvis!)


	3. What's in a Dream?

Maria and Jarvis storm their way to Howard’s office, Jarvis’ hands fisted tight at his side and Maria’s face of perfect stone. At the door they stop, and Maria reaches for one of Jarvis’ clenched hands. He squeezes her hand tight with a sigh before they enter Howard’s sanctuary together.

They both cringe at the mess that is revealed.

Crystal decanters and glass bottles are scattered across the room, along with papers filled with notes and formulas and genetic blueprints. Maria and Jarvis separate from each other, before walking opposite ways around the huge mahogany desk that takes up the middle of the room. Behind the desk is a man who has become unrecognizable to them. He works with the ferocity of someone drowning; papers are ripped away, chalk is erased, and bottles are kicked away as the man paces back and forth with a pad of paper and a pen clutched in his hands.

Jarvis looks to Maria and sees her face fall in sadness, before looking back to his employer and clearing his throat.

Howard turns abruptly to them, and his face turns into a snarl before he spits out:

“Here to bark orders at me too? I have enough fucking people up my ass without my _soulmates_ there!”

“Howard-!” Jarvis starts, but Maria holds up her hand gently and looks at her husband straight in the eye.

“We didn’t come here to yell at you Howard, we came here to talk.” Maria says, before stepping lightly towards him.

Howard Laughs and shake his head.

 “About what? That _failure?_ Take it! Take the little monster, but you’ll regret it.” Howard states, tossing his arms up in the exasperation before crossing his arms. Maria sighs when Jarvis steps forward in anger.

“That _monster_ is your son’s soulmate, and don’t forget you are the one who created her-!”

“It is not a _her_ it is an _it_ , a _thing_ Jarvis, a _creature_ , and without proper supervision it will become a monster. And as for my son’s soul mark matching that _thing’s_ , that is a fluke. It doesn’t even have a soul because it _isn’t human_. It’s a molecular machine, growing stronger every day. ”

“…I don’t believe you.”

“…Huh?” Howard for once looks stumped, and Jarvis would revel in that if he wasn’t so upset.

“I said _I don’t believe you,_ Howard. You obviously have not spent one moment with that child if you believe for a second she doesn’t have a soul.”

Jarvis takes a deep breath and looks toward his soulmate with sad eyes.

“I’m starting to think that perhaps you are the one without one.” Jarvis hears a sharp exhale to his right, but refuses to look away from Howard. Howard flinches as if hit and Jarvis sees hurt and guilt pass his face before he schools it away and once again laughs.

“You are naïve Jarvis, and always have been, don’t blame me when that thing kills you in your sleep.”

“Howard!” Maria snaps, finally having enough. She grabs the pad of paper roughly out of his hand, but doesn’t flinch when the action has Howard raising his hand towards her.

Jarvis reaches out to stop him, but Maria is too fast for the both of them. She lifts up the pad of paper as a shield to effectively stop Howards slap while continuing to look him dead in the eyes. She sighs softly and shakes her head.

“You’re not the man I used to love Howard, not anymore. This quest of yours has changed you irreparably, and if I wasn’t still stupidly in love you and didn’t have a child with you, I would leave right now.”

Howard opens his mouth to speak (yell) but Maria cuts him off and deflates him all in one go.

”The girl is your creation Howard, and I cannot take her away mainly because I am sure everyone I could go to already knows of your exploits. I however can propose a truce.” She never once looks away from Howard, and she licks her red lips before she reaches up and firmly grasps his shoulder.

Howard’s attention is all on her.

“While Tony is at school she is yours, but after she is ours. _She will not sleep in the lab anymore_ , but while Tony is gone you can do whatever with her as long as it doesn’t damage her irreparably. You do this Howard, or else child or not I _will_ leave and take Tony with me, and I’m sure you would just love how the press would spin that.”

“Maria-!”

“These are my terms Jarvis, and I will not change them. It’s what’s best.” Maria turns to interrupt Jarvis’ yell of indignation, but immediately looks back to Howard afterward.

There is a long moment of silence before Howard lightly brushes off his wife’s hand from his shoulder and with the same hand rubs his chin. Eventually he grimaces and reaches to shake his wife’s hand.

“ _I accept your terms_.”

\---------------------------------------------

Subject SGR87-623 no longer sleeps in the dark lab alone, but in a bright room with windows and a warm bed. She is still connected to machines at night to monitor her breathing and pulse, but is now only in the lab for a few hours a day. The only difference in the lab however is that now Mr. Stark is always there, where he used to only come in to sign papers and examine her progress. Said man’s stormy gaze is boring a hole in her skull while one of the scientists run tests on her eyes and determines that she can now see the full spectrum of color. His gaze becomes curious however, when they both look to see Tony banging on the glass doors still in his school uniform. As the scientists release her to join Tony she sees Mr. Stark pull out a text from the laboratories bookshelf, and catches the word _soulbonds_ before Tony pulls her toward his room.

Tony’s room is right across from hers, and if hers is spacey than his is _gigantic_. His room is honestly probably two rooms put together, with half of it being his designated playroom/lab and the other half being his bedroom. Subject SGR87-623 loves it in here, mainly because of the fact that Tony is here and telling her about his day and all the things they get to do now that she is out of the lab.

They are in the middle of playing a game called Jenga, of which Tony is apparently a master (and conveniently forget to mention, the little punk). Subject SGR87-623 smiles fondly at him as he once again wins and does a victory jump, and claps obligingly at his “Almighty Genius”. She is startled however by a knock at the door to which Tony immediately jumps up and answers.

It reveals Jarvis, and Tony grins before giving him a hug. Jarvis returns it with a smile of his own before turning a grave look on the girl.

“Tony and I have a very important matter to discuss with you.” He says, holding back a smile as Tony in turn schools his expression into stone.

 _“Is something wrong?”_ she signs, fearing the worst. Tony makes a show of sitting down and taking both of his hands in hers before nodding. Jarvis can’t hold back his smile at this, and seeing his expression puts her at ease.

“We have unfortunately made a grave error.” Jarvis says, taking a seat beside Tony. All seriousness has left Tony, and he seems to be vibrating with excitement.

“Can I Jarvis?” He asks, and Jarvis nods.

“Well, we’ve realized that we’ve been complete idiots.” Tony proclaims. Jarvis holds back a snort, before smiling warmly at Subject SGR87-623’s confusion.

 _“But, you’re both so intelligent. What happened?”_ she signs, feeling more confused as suddenly both Jarvis and Tony look forlorn.

“…You don’t have a name.” Tony says sadly, squeezing her hands in his. This puzzles her even further, and she makes sure to voice her thoughts:

_“My name is Subject SGR87-623, it has been since I was created.”_

Jarvis gently places a hand on her shoulder, looking even more upset than before.

“That’s the problem, that isn’t a name someone gives a human being.”

 _“But…I’m not human.”_ She signs, looking at Jarvis earnestly and tilting her head. Jarvis looks absolutely dismayed at her words, but its Tony’s reaction that catches both of their attentions.

“That’s not true!” Tony yells, before grabbing her left wrist and pressing it to his seemingly blank neck.

Subject SGR87-623 feels a jolt run through her, and Tony reacts in kind before smiling a smug smile.

“Anthony? How did you-?”

“Don’t look so surprised Jarvis, I know how to read.” Tony lightly snarks, before looking back at his soulmate.

“Things that aren’t human don’t have souls or soul marks, so what happened just then wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t human.” Tony says decisively. Tony gets up and makes his way over to the bookshelf, pulling a pastel book out and handing it to his soulmate. She turns it over to read the cover.

“It’s mamma’s baby name book.” Tony states, “Me and Jarvis thought that it could help you pick out a name.” Tony looks up, only to immediately be overcome with panic.

_He doesn’t know how to deal with crying girls!_

Jarvis pats the girl’s shoulder comfortingly as the tears fall down her cheeks, smiling softly in return to her own. SGR87-623 grabs Tony’s face softly, and brushes his hair aside to kiss his forehead. Tony touches the place she kissed in awe, before letting her grasp his hand in one of hers.

_“You’re the person I trust the most baby boy, it’s only reasonable that you would give me my name.”_

Tony looks shocked, but Jarvis just smiles before opening the book to a dog-eared page.

“Didn’t you show me this one Anthony?” He asks, pointing to a pink colored name under the S column. Tony nods, before stuttering out “Uh y-yeah, I t-thought it was pretty.” He blushes as the girl pulls the book over slightly to look at the name Jarvis is pointing at. “But I mean if you don’t like it-.”

 _“I love it Tony.”_ She replies, looking up from the book giving him an affectionate smile.

“Then from now on, your name will be Stephanie.” Jarvis replies, before ruffling both children’s hair with a grin.

\---------------------------------------------

Sometime after Stephanie’s name is official, Jarvis pulls Tony to the side and asks him just why he chose that name in particular.

Little Tony, not knowing the impact such an answer would cause, simply shows him a picture of a scrawny young man.

The picture is slightly worn and in different shades of tan and brown, but the face is unmistakable, and the name in the corner proves it even further.

“He looks a lot like Steph, don’t you think Jarvis?”

“…Why would you name your dearest friend after a total stranger, Anthony?” Jarvis asks the young boy, straining to keep his emotions hidden from his young charge.

“…I don’t know” the boy answers, “It just felt right.”

\---------------------------------------------

Stephanie’s falls to sleep that night in a bed softer than anything she has ever known, however, when she sleeps she always dreams. Sometimes she remembers her dreams, most of the time she doesn’t, and she won’t until further on in her life.

Stephanie has dreams, and Stephanie has nightmares.

_“Get up punk, ya can’t sleep the damn day away!”_

_Buck?_

_“Well if you can say my name you must to still be living. C’mon, Stevie, it’s time to get up.”_

_But I don’t wanna Buck, I wanna stay with you._

_“I know, believe me, my ass could sleep for weeks here stealing all the blankets from ya but-“_

Warm lips touch her forehead and she blinks up in surprise, seeing ocean eyes clouding her vision. Bucky’s eyes hold her gaze heatedly before lighting up with a smirk he used many a time when being a complete pain in the ass back home.

_“- We’ve got to go freeze our balls off fighting the good fight.”_

_Ugh, Buuucckkk._

He snorts

_“What would the troops think of the great Captain America whinin’ like a shittin’ toddler?”_

His face turns serious, and he touches a hand to her cheek gently, like she’s the most precious thing in the world to him in that moment.

_“It’s time to wake up Steve.”_

Suddenly the ground is shaking, and she sees Bucky’s teal eyes widening in alarm before everything fades away.

She is left in an all-encompassing darkness unlike any she has ever known. She looks around in terror as she realizes she can’t move. She struggles as hard as possible, feeling her lungs seize in her chest from panic, but all she gets in return are puffs of white air in front of her face. It’s at this moment she realizes that on top of being immobile, she is utterly _freezing_. Her teeth chattering are the only sounds she hears in this place.

That is until she sees him, a blond boy curled in a fetal position in front of her.

She’s taken aback by how small he is at first, but then throws such thoughts away as she sees how blue his lips and skin are.

Her heart drops as she hears his awful, wheezing breaths.

She hears her name being called in the distance, and as warmth enters her body and she realizes she can finally take a step, she realizes she doesn’t want to leave.

She realizes she wants to stay and help this boy.

But an unknown force is pulling her away from him and a blinding light is surrounding her.

She manages a glimpse before everything goes white, and with this she sees deep blue eyes that seemingly stare into her soul.

\---------------------------------------------

“Stephanie, Stephanie wake up.” She hears someone whisper as hands shake her awake. She looks bleary eyed toward the source of the disturbance and smiles sleepily as brown doe eyes come into view.

“ _What is it Tony?”_ she asks, sitting up in the bed and facing her boy. Tony smiles wide, grasping a hand in hers and gently tugging her arm. “ _Secret”_ He signs, _“Follow me.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys  
> I'm glad to have FINALLY gotten this posted. So far this story has with it a run of bad luck and emotions. I won't lie, I was very discouraged and depressed, but now I'm back and planning to update at least once a month. I also posted another story, but will probably not be continuing it anytime soon as I plan to focus on this one instead as much as I can with school and other things. I hope you enjoy, and am truly sorry once again for the unscheduled hiatus. Your support on my previous chapters means a lot to me, and I thank you :) .


	4. Hello to Earth (Hell on Earth)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: child abuse ahead, if this triggers you in anyway please do not read this chapter.

Stephanie and Tony wind through the great halls of the Stark Mansion, a maze only few knew how to maneuver. Stephanie follows behind her boy diligently, smiling softly at his obvious excitement, all the while taking in the sight of things she doesn’t remember seeing before, but feels a tug at the back of her head suppling her their name. A looming structure with a golden disk swinging from its glass case is known as a “Grandfather Clock” the soft voice provides, and a plant with so many small leaves she doesn’t dare count them all is called a “Fern”. Stephanie gets so enraptured with her own mental conversation that she nearly smacks into the wall beside the door Tony opens. He looks back at her, sheepishly smiling and scratching the back of his head nervously, but relaxes when he receives a reassuring smile in return.

Then she sees it.

The moon shines down upon them like a beacon, illuminating the green blades of grass and tall trees surrounding the yard. She takes in the scents of the outdoors for the first time. Smiling softly as the breeze tussles her hair. Tony grins before pulling her excitedly once again down the marble stairs, letting her go as they approached the greenest grass even her inner voice has ever seen. She stops right where the marble and the grass meet, her heart in her throat and smile so big she can feel it splitting her face. She looks to her boy, and he softly beacons her with a grin of his own, and with a jump her feet touch the ground for the first time.

Its everything she imagined and more, the dewed blades feel like silk beneath her feet and she wiggles her toes in happiness. She looks to Tony and with a grin, one he returns, before he gestures upwards and looks to the sky. She follows his gaze, and with a soft gasp looks up at the biggest moon she had ever seen.

 _“Tonight is a Lunar Perigee.”_ Tony signs with flourish, coaxing a soft giggle from Stephanie’s lips. She looks back up at the large pale light hovering above them, illuminating everything for the eye to see and beams back at her boy with eyes just as bright. _“You told me about this the other day!”_ Stephanie signs excitedly. Tony’s smile impossibly widens, and he shakes his head in affirmative _“The Lunar Perigee, or as some people call it the Super Moon, is when the moon is the closest to the earth. I knew it was coming and since you had never seen the moon up close I thought you might-“_

 _“I Love it.”_ She cuts off his nervous babble before grabbing his arms and pulling her boy in close. He only reaches up to her collarbones, which in that moment he is thankful for, because otherwise she would see how red his cheeks were. She pulls back before quickly grabbing her boy’s wrists and spinning them around the wet grass, pulling peals of laughter from her boy in return. When they become too dizzy they stop and fall limply to the ground. They’re still shaking with giggles when Stephanie asks: _“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”_ , to which Tony rolls his eyes. Three months was plenty of time to realize Tony shies away from things he deems too childish, and playing anything similar to “Ring around the Rosie” or “Tag” is definitely on that list.

Hide and Seek seems to be safe so far though, possibly because the kid likes it so much.

They stay there for what feels like forever, looking up at the moon and counting the constellations they could see. Tony knew much more that she did, but she was completely fine sitting there and listening as he talked about the myths and legends behind these man-made pictures. She can’t help but feel pride in just how smart her boy is, a presence deep inside her humming in satisfaction as she gently holds his hand in hers.

A Tony quiets she listens as soft hoots reach her ears, cutting through the continuous hum of crickets and other insects. She marvels at their beautiful symphony, at the sounds she would have never heard if not for the boy beside her, and smiles as she feels her eyes droop.

Sleep does sound amazing, and her boy seems to have already beat her there.

\---------------------------------------------

She doesn’t know what time it is when she wakes up, all she knows is that it is still dark, even darker than before. She looks to the boy beside her and contemplates waking him up before they get into trouble. Even though Anthony Edward Stark is in all actuality nine years of age (almost ten as he will remind you), he is still incredibly small. She had been giving him a whole lot of credit when she thought he was _eight_ for heaven’s sake.

She would never say such a thing to his face though, especially since he hears it enough from Mr. Stark.

She sighs softly, brushing his short curls from his face before gently maneuvering him to where she can take him back to bed. He’s not as heavy as he used to be, and she doesn’t know if it’s because he has possibly gotten _smaller_ or because her health has greatly improved, but she’s pretty sure it’s the later. Piggyback rides are a rarity because of how poor her health has been, but she thinks that maybe they can now become more frequent.

She tiptoes as softly as possible back to Tony’s room, watching for shadows that move in fear of being caught. Even though Tony had good intentions and she _did_ have fun, she realizes she needs to proceed with caution. If Mr. Stark was to see that they had defied him by going outside together there would be serious repercussions. Telling a lie wouldn’t be very convincing either, considering they both have the incriminating evidence of tiny pieces of grass stuck to their clothes and feet.

Tony was allowed outside, but she was not, even Jarvis couldn’t change that rule.

She makes it back to Tony’s room, sighing softly in relief when the door makes no sound as she opens it.

She sucks the breath back inside in panic as she sees and dark figure sitting on Tony’s bed

She holds Tony tighter against her, hoping against all hope that it is simply Jarvis waiting to lightly reprimand them before making a glass of warm milk like he always does when they can’t sleep.

It’s not Jarvis.

Mr. Stark soundlessly stands from the bed before pointing down to it with barely contained rage. She follows his direction, placing Tony down as gently as possible with how hard her hands are shaking. He grabs her roughly afterwards and pulls her from the room. He leaves the door opened wide and because of this she muffles her harsh breaths and whimpers as much as possible. Mr. Stark nearly crushes her arm in his harsh grip as he leads her down the winding halls; toward a set of metal doors she is all too accustomed to. She tries to hold back her terrified sobs as the button to the lab is harshly pushed by a quaking finger.

Mr. Starks foul breath fills the elevator, and Stephanie remembers the one time that she asked why he smelled so sour sometimes with harsh clarity. Jarvis had told her about alcohol that night, and about how addicting it could be. He told her How it had taken his father from him, is taking Tony’s away as well, and how he felt helpless and unable to stop both from happening.

She could understand some of what he was feeling, helplessness was something she was quite familiar with.

It was what she felt now, when Mr. Stark grabbed her roughly once again and bodily carried her into the lab. He threw her down on the hard concrete, and she felt something pop in her shoulder as she landed on it. She held back a scream by biting her lip, looking up to Mr. Stark’s enraged face through blurry eyes. She felt nausea overcome her and couldn’t hold back the rise of bile as she puked on the floor beside her head. She curled away from the vomit to lay on her back while cradling her arm. Holding back her whimpers as her stomach still rolled and her arm blazed with pain.

She felt light-headed and began trembling as he stood above her. Felt as though she would shake right out of her skin as he kneeled with his knees on either side of her. He stared at her with eyes like fire before he clumsily (drunkenly) reared-back and smacked her right across the face.

She felt the sharp sting against her cheek, and wasn’t nearly prepared for the one that came immediately after

Or prepared for the hits that followed.

By the time he was through with her, both of her eyes were swollen nearly shut. When she reached up to touch her nose she found it against her right check instead of its usual place between it and her left. She had tried to block most of the blows, but couldn’t when his hands were so much larger and stronger than hers.

There was ringing in both of her ears that had started after two well placed hits to both sides, and she reached to them as well only to feel warm blood had dripped from them into her hair. She could barely hear anything over the ringing, but what she did hear made her blood run cold.

“Monitor how long it takes her to heal from that and let me know the results.”

She heard several muffled affirmatives, and realized with startling clarity that she had laid there, had been beaten beyond recognition-

and had been watched by every scientist in the room.

\---------------------------------------------

Tony doesn’t see Stephanie for a whole day after the night of the _Lunar Perigee_. He fusses over his motherboards and various other possessions in nervousness. Being left in his room after Jarvis had brought him back from school that day and told to stay put had left him with an empty feeling in his stomach. One of their maids, Ana, stayed in the room with him upon Jarvis’ request, and just thinking about that made tony skin crawl with anxiousness. If Ana wasn’t so quiet and didn’t look so fragile ( _“looks like a slight breeze could blow her away”_ Stephanie had signed one day when they were hiding from the staff) he would have needled her for answers a half hour ago. Jarvis always spent as much time as possible with him and Steph after he got home, which brought up the question that had been driving him crazy since he had got home and wasn’t met with blue eyes and a blinding smile-

_Where was his soulmate?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very very sorry.


	5. Family Ties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I've changed the opening dream sequence to the abuser being Steve's uncle instead  
> Hope you enjoy :)

Stephanie knows she’s no longer awake, she felt herself go when she fought against the scientists’ grabby hands and they outright sedated her.

But she knows she’s not fully asleep either, that she can’t be, especially when she feels her nose break once again when a punch lands against her face. She falls to the floor in a heap and glares up at the man above her, expecting to see Mr. Stark –

What she doesn’t expect is to see a tall man with short blonde hair staring at her with pure rage. His breath smells like Mr. Stark's does when he drinks, but that isn’t the only thing that is familiar. His blue eyes make her feel a dark feeling she can’t place, and she finds she doesn’t really want to.

 _“Don’t you look at me like that **boy**.”_ The man snaps raising his hand to once again strike a blow, but is stopped by two arms wrapping around his wide bicep

 _“Jacob, stop!”_ a woman’s voice yells out, trying with all of her might to pull the man away from her. She feels anger pool in her gut at the sight of the woman’s battered face, the left side marred by a huge bruise.

The woman is however unsuccessful in holding the man back, and with great force is grabbed and thrown against the far wall. The woman cries out, and Stephanie feels her stomach drop as he walks toward her limp form.

 _Mom!_ She feels herself scream, a lump forming in her throat. The woman looks to back to her and smiles weakly before jutting out her chin, her eyes meeting her brother-in-laws before she stands shakily on her feet.

 _“You can hit me, you can punch me, you can tell me I’m worthless and call me a bum, but you **will not** harm my boy.” _ She spits out, her words punctuated by pokes to Jacob Roger’s chest. The man seems surprised for a moment, but quickly recovers. He snarls and grabs Sarah by the neck, pushing her back against the wall’s hard surface. She wheezes and claws at the hand around her throat; leaving bloody scratches against the man’s skin. He ignores it, and with rage in his voice slurs “ _Shut your mouth you fucking **whore** , I own you and that snot-noised brat now, and you will do as I say as long as you're living under my roof." _He squeezes Sarah Roger's throat tighter, ignoring the hue her face has taken as her struggles weaken.

_MOM!_

**I have to do something**

_MOM! NO!_

**I can’t lose her too**

_Let her go! Please just let her go!_

The woman’s eyes roll back in her head, and her body goes limp

**NO!**

Another man's voice echos in her head as she feels herself move to grab the butcher knife from the kitchen table.

_"Don't cry son, I promise you I will do my damnedest to return to you and your mother."_

**_Why did you have to leave us daddy?_ **

**_Why did you have to die?_ **

_"Take care of your Mother while I'm gone Steven, protect her and care for her as she does for you, can you do that for me son?"_

**_I will, I promise._ **

Everything seems to happen in slow-motion, one moment the knife was in her hands, and the next in was embedded in the man’s leg. He lets go of his victim in shock, stumbling and ripping out the blade from his thigh. Bright red blood spurts from the wound as Jacob Rogers, son of Martha and Joseph Rogers Sr. and brother to Joseph Rogers Jr., falls to the floor. Stephanie feels all the blood drain from her face as she shakily drops down to her knees, staring in horror at spasming figure. She shutters her eyes from the image of the man slowly but surely bleeding out, and crawls over to the woman, hot tears falling down her face.

 _MOM!_ She screams, hitting her back like the woman does when she is sick and can’t breathe, and when that doesn’t work she shakes her roughly, praying to God to just _please please **help** her please don’t let her leave me-_

  _MOM! WAKE UP! **PLEASE** WAKE UP! _She screams, but her cries fall on death ears.

Her/ **His** mother isn’t moving.

\---------------------------------------------

 

Just when all hope is seemingly lost, and the clinging child’s sobs have become uncontrollable -

Sarah Rogers sucks in a harsh breath, and her eyes flutter open.

 

\---------------------------------------------

Stephanie wakes up with a jolt to find she is in her room; the various machines monitoring her health beeping steadily in her ears.

‘At least I can hear normally now’ she thinks before making to sit up –

Only to be pushed back down stiffly by a gloved hand.

“You don’t want to do that.”

She follows the voice to see Marshall with his default expression, ergo, a look of pure loathing for the world around him. He meets her gaze before looking away quickly and glancing back at his utensils.

“You really shouldn’t have angered him.” Marshall speaks flippantly before meticulously prepping a needle and tying a band around her arm.

 _“Why are you taking blood?”_ Stephanie asks him. To which he scoffs and shakes his head: “That happens to be one of my many jobs, as you would know from experience subject SGR87-623.” He then sticks the needle in without any warning. She hardly even flinches, too used to the man’s uncaring behavior.

“Besides, why would I not? It’s prime for the taking, and I might as well see if there are any changes while you are healing.” At the mention of healing, Stephanie reaches up the arm that is not stabbed through with a needle (which also coincidentally is the one with a dislocated shoulder) and touches the bridge of her nose tenderly. She’s happy to note it is back in place and that the bruising has died down considerably.

Sometimes super-healing had its perks, especially since her arm no longer hurts as well.

However, she knows she would heal a lot faster if –

 _“Am I allowed to see Tony?”_ she asks, knowing by how high the sun is in the sky that he is home by now. Marshall grimaces slightly, hardly detectable to the untrained eye, and mutters something under his breath before answering.

“The _Stark Prodigy_ is not allowed to be in this room until you are completely healed, however, Edwin Jarvis and Mr. Stark can come and go as they please.”

Almost as if on cue, Jarvis walks through the door, looking distraught before his eyes land on her. He relaxes slightly, but looks at her sadly as he sits at the foot of her bed. He waits for Marshall to be finished before he speaks.

“Why did you go outside Stephanie?” Jarvis asks, he doesn’t seem angry at her, just resigned. Stephanie decides she doesn’t like the slump of his shoulders, or the dark circles under his eyes. She stays silent, and Jarvis takes that as his cue to continue speaking.

“You know that was one of the stipulations for you to be allowed to live freely in this household with Tony and I, do you not?“

 _“I do!”_ she starts signing with nervous hands _“And I’m really really sorry! I just wanted…”_  She pauses before slumping and saying with a voice whispery soft and cracking slightly with disuse _:_

“I just wanted to be normal for once.”

She hears Marshall scoff under his breath at that, before looking back in surprise at having heard her voice. He frantically jots down notes on his clipboard with a furrowed brow, and leaves abruptly out the bedroom door, looking back at her with something close to awe as he goes.

Jarvis is much more open about his surprise. He gives her a bittersweet smile, before pulling her into a gentle hug.

She is very much used to numerous (albeit wonderful) hugs from Tony, but hugs from Jarvis only happen on the rare and special occasions.

This is apparently such an occasion.

“Miss Stephanie, I need you to listen closely to what I am about to say.” he pulls back, still gently holding her in his arms, but adjusting so he can see her face as well. She looks up at Jarvis in return, paying rapt attention to his serious and solemn tone.

“You do not need to be normal Miss Stephanie, you need only to be _you_. It is in fact what makes Sir and I love you so much.”

 _“You…Love me?”_ she asks bewildered. She knows Tony does, but Tony loves many things. Like whip cream on his waffles, his Aunt’s cats, building things, Jarvis reading to them…

However, Jarvis is different. Jarvis is always calm and collected. Going through his daily tasks with precision and finesse. Jarvis is _always_ busy. He doesn’t tell those around him about the things he loves, or even the things he likes. Most of his energy is either spent keeping the household or to making sure Tony and has everything he needs. He tucks him in, feeds him, picks out his clothes, anything that the young boy could ever need Jarvis takes care of.

She realizes with a start he does the same for her.

He always makes sure to stock up on blueberries and strawberries because while Tony loves whip cream, she’d much rather have the crisp taste of fruit with her waffles, and he lets _her_ pick the story after Tony has had his turn. Most important though is that Jarvis watches over her and Tony like a hawk, knowing where they are at all times and whether or not they need him.

Jarvis _love_ s her, someone other than her soulmate loves _her_.

She almost can’t believe that her feelings are reciprocated, that Jarvis feels the same familial connection.

“You and Sir may not be mine by blood Miss Stephanie, but you feel as so in my heart.” He says with a smile brushing away the tears that have unknowingly sprung to her eyes. She laughs, embarrassed, before softly speaking once again:

“I love you too Jarvis.”

\---------------------------------------------

She sees Mr. Stark again an hour after Jarvis leaves. He ignores her however in favor of speaking to Marshall about his findings and her voices development. It hurt to talk, but Marshall says that the only way for it to get better is to talk as much as possible.

Before Mr. Stark leaves once again she notices with satisfaction that his eyes are surrounded by harsh bruising and that there are bandages across the bridge of his nose.

 _‘Jarvis._ ’ she thinks warmly, remembering how the man had similar bandages wrapped tight around his knuckles. She smiles to herself, before leaning back in her bed and watching the birds fly by her window. Sometimes life here in Stark Manor is hard, but Tony and Jarvis make everything worth it in the end.

She falls asleep shortly after the sun goes down.

Tony sneaks into her room sometime later, pulling back the covers and climbing in as quietly as possible. Stephanie smiles in her sleep and pulls him in close.

Tony doesn’t hesitate to hold her back just as tight.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I've been gone for so long guys. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think. I wanted to make it known that while Jarvis loves Tony he has also grown very fond of Stephanie as well.  
> Also, as previously stated, Howard is an asshole.


End file.
